Creativity and design

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Abstract

Throughout history, creative ideas in every field of endeavor have contributed to human expertise and capability, giving rise to a multitude of individual creative works and, ultimately, creating civilization as we know it. In many fields today, especially design fields, the role of creativity is made explicit. However, the field of instructional design has been an exception to this rule, embracing the design process but seldom acknowledging creativity in its literature. This dissertation explores the role of creativity in instructional design and development. Specifically, the dissertation presents a literature review and conceptual framework on the role of creativity in instructional design and development, an exploration of the theoretical underpinnings of a graduate curriculum in instructional design, and a research report describing a mixed-methods study of measures of creativity among a group of 17 students in the program, along with five qualitative case studies. A quantitative analysis used correlational procedures to compare three measures: the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Figural (TTCT:F), the Creative Product Semantic Scale (CPSS), and a questionnaire about personal creative ability. Additionally, five case studies were conducted in which interviews and online design journals were analyzed in the context of other data. The goals of the study were to explore what relationships might be found between the three measures, to describe the design process of individual students, and to examine student perspectives about creativity and design. Results of the comparison of measures were inconclusive. However, the quantitative data indicate that the seventeen individuals: a) were highly creative relative to the general population; b) generally viewed themselves as creative persons; and c) created multimedia projects that were rated as fairly homogenous in creativity by two experts. The five case studies describe students who enter the program having more skills with the multimedia development tools, who tend to view themselves as creative, generally thriving in the program. In contrast, students who lack these initial skills may view themselves as less than creative and generally experience frustration in the program, needing additional support. All five case study participants affirmed that creativity is necessary for good design.